Learning To Fall Updated
by Sarah-Taylor-Rockbell
Summary: Sarah visits her cousin, Winry who she hasn't seen since her parents died. Can Winry's cousin get Edward to finally let someone in? Ed talks to Sarah about her nightmares. Will people see Sarah's bruises? Rated T for possible language R&R Thanks guys! :
1. Learning To Fall

Learning To Fall

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I REALLY hope you enjoy this, and I only want positive feedback. If you don't have anything nice to say please keep it to yourself. Also if I hear a single short comment about Ed I will DESTROY you! Kisses! xoxoxoxoxox Taylor- :)

Sarah-Taylor-Rockbell's POV

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><p>I readjusted my dress over my knees for the hundredth time and gazed out of the window of the train that left from Central. I was meeting my cousin Winry at the station about half an hour from<br>Resembool, where she lived. I used to spend a lot of time there as a kid before Winry's parents died. She changed so much when we were little.

She grew up in a matter of months and by the time we were both around 12 she was already acting like my mother. So eventually I stopped going to see her. But about 2 days before today, Winry had called me in a panic. She needed something from the automail shop across the street from my house in downtown Central and I felt we were due for a visit. She seemed reluctant to tell me why she needed what she asked for, but I hadn't questioned her. I wondered if she still talked to those boys.

What were their names?

Alphonse and... my thoughts were interrupted by the whistle of the train approaching the station. I immediately stood up and lugged my heavy suitcases towards the door and waited. As the doors slid open I heard a high pitched squeal. "Sarah!" I heard Winry yell. I stepped onto the platform, dropped my suitcase and carefully set down Winry's supplies and opened my arms with a smile.

We hugged. Winry buried her face in my shoulder and I did the same. One thing I noticed I had missed about Winry was that she always smelt like automail oil, lemons and soap. I found myself taking in everything about her, in case this was the last time we'd see each other.

"God you look great. Is that a new dress?" Winry said, her bright eyes taking in my outfit. It was new but I didn't want to brag too much. My parents worked for the Führer so I always had a lot of nice things. I smiled at her and shook my head.

"I got it at a second hand shop on my way in. Isn't it just adorable?" Winry nodded enthusiastically and eyes the heavy metal case beside me. "is that my..." she trailed off as her eyes grew with excitement.

I laughed. "Yes, I got everything that was on your list. Titanium, steel alloy. It's lighter and stronger than the usual stuff you order. So what exactly are you doing with it, if you don't mind me asking?" she glanced behind her and I followed her eyes. A blond boy with golden eyes sat on a bench beside a big suit of armor. His red coat looked a little warm to be good for this weather but I noticed that when he stretched a glimmer of silver peeked from underneath the blood red fabric.

"Oh Win... Is that Ed?" I said looking down at my feet. I suddenly felt sick. She put her arm around me. "Sarah, don't worry about him. Sometimes your hearts too big for your own good." she laughed but it felt hollow and forced. I shrugged her arm off and picked up the bags and started to drag them toward the exit of the train station. "Let me help you with that." said a kind voice. I looked up with a smile and realized I was staring at the suit of armor that had been beside the boy in the red coat. My mouth formed words but no sound was really coming out. "Don't scream please!" said the suit of armor.

I just blinked and cautiously poked at the suit of armor. The metal was cool and smooth against my fingertips.

"This is Alphonse." said Winry.

Suddenly a picture came into my head. Two little blonde boys running around with Winry and I in granny Pinako's yard. One boy had been shorter and shy and another a bit taller and a tad obnoxious.

"Oh Alphonse, do you remember me? Wow you got big!" I said happily. I gave the suit of armor a hug.

Winry made a choking noise of surprise. I smiled up at Al, I couldn't tell if he was smiling, the armor was completely expressionless. After a moment Al spoke again sounding happy. "I remember you Sarah." I grinned.

"And where's Ed?" I said glancing over at Winry, noticing the bench where he had been sitting was now vacated. Suddenly there was a tap on my shoulder. I spun around and was face to face, well more like nose to chin with Ed.

"Hey Sarah." he said. "Hey." I said lamely, trying to think of something to say. "The oldest Elric, I can tell." I said smiling. Ed looked at me with surprise. "I knew you when you were a kid. I never forget a face." I pulled him in for a hug.

Ed stiffened and when I pulled away he had a slight flush to his cheeks. "Lemme take that." he mumbled and took the heavy case from beside me. I nodded and linked arms with Winry and motioned for Al to follow us. "Common guys! I wanna see Resembool before the sun goes down please." I teased.

Ed's POV

Sitting in the back of Winry's beaten up old truck beside Al I could vaguely hear Winry and Sarah talking. Sarah was interesting.

How her and Winry could be related was beyond me. One thing is she immediately hugged Al after her little freeze up then she hugged me. The last person to hug me was... Well probably my mom. Maybe Winry but if that happened I was having a memory block.

I peeked into the cab's window and saw Winry with a huge smile across her face. Sarah was completely animated when she was talking and apparently told a funny story because Winry laughed so hard she almost let go of the wheel.

"Brother." Al said quietly. I glanced up at him and grinned, "What's up?" I said.

He seemed to be staring off into the distance. "I can't believe she hugged me..." al said softly.

I reached over and patted his metal arm making a hollow clanging sound. "Don't worry about it. It's been a while since I got any kinda loving like that either." I chuckled and tried to pass it off as nothing but Al seemed focused on that moment.

What struck me as interesting was how she knew I was the older brother. Either Winry had told her or something else... I had vague memories of a curly haired girl clinging to the back of Winry's dress at the tea parties Winry dragged us to. I didn't really remember being introduced to her or anything either.

I looked up at the sky and watched the clouds race past us as we sped down the road towards Pinako's house. "I like Sarah." Al said after a while. I rubbed my nose and stretched out my good leg. "As long as she stays out of our way I'll like her too." I mumbled. Al protested but a huge bump in the road interrupted us and we were almost thrown from the truck.

I banged on the cab window and yelled. "Watch it Winry! I thought you were supposed to fix my automail, not break the rest of me!" she stuck out her tongue at me through the glass and Sarah covered her mouth and giggled.

I turned back around and faced the receding train station. I wondered if having Sarah around could be good for Winry. I dunno, maybe make her less violent. I was still recovering from being hit with a wrench. I was praying it wouldn't scar or bruise so I wouldn't have to explain my mechanic abuses me when I abuse her automail. I leaned back and let my hair fall over my eyes and settled in for a short cat nap. Hoping I wouldn't become airborne with Winry's bad driving.

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><p>Winry's POV<p>

Granny Pinako sat quietly on her stool in the work shop hunched over an automail arm, screwdriver in hand and a pencil piercing her grey bun. I watched her as she twisted and turned each screw making the mechanic limbs twitch and move as if they were real.

Automail always amazed me. How despite Ed having only one arm and one leg still made of soft vulnerable flesh, his automail parts still reacted the same as the rest of his body. Ed sat (well kinda was propped up) on the couch while granny and I worked on his limbs.

The new ones I asked Sarah to pick up for me in central were just a work of art. The way the screws were barely even visible to the naked eye, the way everything was welded together, almost like it was in one piece but still had a huge range of movement. I started to daydream when I heard Sarah come in.

I glanced up at her and smiled. She was carrying a tray of lemonade and some sandwiches. "I got bored. I know Ed doesn't like milk so I made something we can all drink together." I peeked at Ed who seemed to have somehow managed to sit up a bit straighter despite his absent limbs. Sarah all at once noticed his condition and almost dropped the tray.

She quickly recovered and placed the tray on the table across from Ed and plopped herself down beside him. I could never get in his little bubble of space like that unless I had a wrench either to fix him or threaten to hit him with. Sarah just seemed to have a calming effect on the boys. For the past few days neither Ed nor Al had been fighting at all or had taken off on some crazy mission for whatever they were looking for.

Sarah picked up a glass of lemonade and held it up to Ed. He started to push himself up into a more comfortable position so he could take the cup when she held the cup to his lips.

"Go on, I think you'll like it. I put lots of sugar in it." her easy smile was contagious. I couldn't help smiling too.

"Well Ed, don't be rude!" I said shaking my wrench at him. Ed gulped and tilted his head up so Sarah could help him drink. His face bloomed into shades of pink and red as he tried to remain calm.

"Thanks." Ed said looking out the window refusing to make eye contact. "I would rather do it on my own from now on thanks." Ed's tone wasn't angry but tinged with a bit of embarrassment. I could detect it but I wasn't positive about Sarah. And sure enough Sarah's smile disappeared and her face became blank. "I'm sorry then Edward. I overstepped. I was just trying to help." her head fell forward and I heard her take a shaky breath.

"oh great!" I said under my breath and collected up Sarah, guiding her out into the yard. "Sorry win." she said sniffling. Big tears had already started to well up.

"Sarah you have no idea how many tears I have shed for that boy. You didn't do anything wrong at all. Ed just is too proud to accept help." I said as reassuringly as I could. She wiped her eyes with a hanky I held out to her. When she looked up at me with a weak smile she had a grease stain across her nose. I started giggle.

Sarah looked confused then went to rub her nose, an when it came back black looked surprised. We both started laughing hysterically until our faces were streaked with a different kind of tears. We laughed for the stupidity of Ed, not knowing when to be nice, we laughed that little Alphonse Elric was now a hunkering suit if armor taller than his brother, we laughed about our lives being so different yet we could come together every time. Soon the laughter died and we lay on our backs staring up at the stars, heads leaned towards each other.

"Sarah, do you believe in heaven?" I said quietly, the crickets sang in the background as I stared into the never ending blackness if the sky. Sarah propped herself up in her elbows and her curly brown hair fell over her shoulders.

"Win if there's a heaven, you're parents are there. I promise." she whispered as she put a reassuring hand on top of mine. I squeezed her hand and squeezed my eyes shut too. The word and everything around me was swallowed up by blackness. 'what if they did bad things?' I thought to myself. Sarah laid out on the porch until Alphonse (somehow) quietly stood over us and asked us if we were coming inside.

As we stood up Sarah gripped the back of my overalls and looked at her feet. I sighed a little. Ed had kind of pushed Sarah back into her shell. It was going to take a he'll of a lot of coaxing to get her out again.

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><p>Sarah's POV<p>

I woke up to the sound of metal crashing together. Immediately I jumped up and ran to the window. Al and Ed were on the lawn sparring. I sighed in relief. A knock on my door made me turn around. Winry's long blonde hair was braided over her left shoulder and she was rubbing her eyes.

"Don't freak out. This is a normal occurrence. I'm sorry about last night. Ed should seriously apologize." I shook my head and tucked a loose curl behind my ear. "It's no big deal Win. I just had a bit of a rough time before I came down and I hadn't let myself get really upset." Winry sat on the edge of the guest bed where my blankets were still rumpled from the restless, fitful sleep from the night before.

I had only dozed off against around dawn as the sun was rising. Then the boys decided to start a loud fight at around 8. 'So much for a good night sleep'. I thought to myself yawning. Winry let herself fall into the blankets and pouted her lips. "Are you ok?" she asked without looking at me.

I nodded and rooted through my suitcase for a pair of sock. The floor was cold. "What would you like for breakfast?" I asked cheerfully. Winry looked up at me then. Her stomach growled and she frowned. "Damn. I forgot about food." she laughed. "I'll ask the guys." she said as she padded out of the room.

She messed up my hair with her fingers and smiled. "Sunshine, pretending to be ok and being ok are two different things." she whispered with a kind smile, then stepped out into the hall. I listened as her footsteps died away and I was left alone in the room. I groaned inwardly. Those damn nightmares again.

Every night since coming to Resembool I had this same dream about the worst day in my whole life. I closed my eyes and let the haunting nightmare flow back into my mind. I was standing in the back alley behind the bakery where I worked part time. My boss's son and I had been dating for about a month or two.

He was extremely sweet then, he bought me flowers every week and called whenever he wanted. But he had been going through my purse and found a letter from my old friend Matt and lost his mind. He beat me mercilessly that night. I remembered limping all the way home to find my house empty.

My mother was working late again and my father was traveling somewhere. I collapsed on the floor and blacked out. When I woke up the next morning my kind neighbor had bandaged me up and promised not to tell anyone what happened. I was so shamed. My head started to swim in memory and I reflexively brushed my hand against my side where my rib had been broken. I was still a little tender there and I winced.

"I heard you scream last night." I spun to face the voice so fast I almost lost my balance. Ed was sitting on the edge if my bed where Winry had been before. "How did you..." I started to say and Ed just grinned. Window was open. You should be careful. Some creep might end up coming in and..." he never finished that train of thought. He just looked up at me.

"You screamed last night. And I've heard you cry in your sleep these past few days." I looked away from him. "Ya well I had a nightmare." I said defensively. Ed continued. "Who's Tom?" He said softly. I shook my head. I wasn't going to get Edward involved.

"He was my cat." I said through gritted teeth.

Ed sighed. "Sarah if we're going to be friends you're going to have to start telling me the truth." I took a deep breath, "Ed, I can't do this right now." Ed looked out the window, where Den and Alphonse were playing amongst the grass and Pinako was smoking her pipe. "Sarah, you think the military wouldn't be altered when the daughter of the Führer's assistant was assaulted?" I inhaled sharply.

So people did know about Tom. I started to feel dizzy.

"Sarah, if we're friends now, that means I'm going to protect you. I'm going to protect you like I protect my own brother and Winry." I swallowed hard and slowly extended my hand to touch Ed's exposed automail arm. It responded to my touch like a human arm but remained ice cold and unyielding.

"Thank you Edward." I said with, for the first time in a long time, a touch of happiness to my words. I ran my fingers down his arm until I reached his hand. Then I gingerly took and squeezed. He slowly squeezed back and he leaned his forehead against mine and closed his eyes.

We stayed like that for a moment until Ed exhaled. "I should probably go. Winry's going to wonder if I got eaten." We both laughed and I opened my eyes to find a red faced Ed. I followed his eyes and noticed my shirt's top two bottoms were undone a little bit of my cleavage.

"Oops, I keep forgetting to fix that." I said laughing. Ed turned his face away as I attempted to button my shirt back up. Suddenly a crash from the door made both me and Ed look to the door. Winry stood there her hands now empty and a tray full of toast and fruits were scattered at her feet, along with a shattered pitcher of orange juice.

"I didn't realize I was interrupting anything." she said in an empty voice.

Ed moved away from me immediately andstood up. "I'm going to train with Al." Ed said to nobody in particular.I watched Winry's face twist into a forced smile as Ed passed. When Ed left Winry started to collect the abandoned food. I joined her and started to collect rogue grapes.

"I didn't realize you and Ed were so close." Winry said after a few moments of silent cleaning. I laughed.

"Win there is NOTHING going on there. It was totally an accident; no matter how bad that looks I'd never do that. You're my best friend in the world and I know how you feel about Ed." I said as I poured my handful of grapes onto the tray. I glanced up and saw Winry was totally frozen.

"Sarah I have no idea what you are talking about." she said in a hollow voice. I smiled to myself. "Of course you don't dear." I said as we scraped the last bits of food onto the tray.

Winry straightened up. "I'll get a broom." she said. I just nodded and started to pick up the bigger pieces of glass. Suddenly a sharp pain shot through my hand. I flipped it palm up and inspected the damage. The cut wasn't deep but it was long. The blood was already starting to well up and drip onto the floor. "Hey, you better put pressure on that." Ed said. I looked up to see him holding a handkerchief out to me. I took it and pressed it against my hand. It stung.

"Winry's mad." he said softly and he tried gently as he could to tie the handkerchief around my hand. I shrugged. I knew she was upset but she had to know that I wasn't messing around with Ed, didn't she? I winced as he tightened the cloth around my hand. He stood up and patted my head.

"Watch it, don't hurt yourself anymore." He waved over his shoulder and he left and I tried to follow him. I had seen something in Ed, like a big brother, protecting me. And in this weak moment I wanted that more than anything. But instead of getting to Edward I ended up just stepping on more glass. I yelped in pain and fell backwards. Winry barreled in, wearing shoes and wielding a broom.

"Sarah you idiot." he swept the glass out of the doorway and she crossed the room to me. She gently slipped off my sock and I had to bite my lip to hold in a screech. I had bled right through the sock. Three large pieces of glass stuck out of my feet and I watched as blood dripped off the jagged edges and onto Winry's lap. She sighed. "Hold still this going to hurt." she said. I braced myself. Quickly Winry yanked out the first piece of glass and I screamed. Winry looked up at me with a little concern. I couldn't help thinking that maybe she enjoyed this a bit if she didn't believe me about Ed.

"Just rip the last two out at the same time." I said through gritted teeth and I scratched my nails against the floor. Winry took hold of glass gingerly then swiftly yanked both pieces out and I only let out a small moan. Windy quickly left to get me something to stop the bleeding with. I leaned against the foot of the bed, feeling pathetic and stupid. I could vaguely hear Edward and Winry whisper shouting down the hallway about what was the best way to help me.

I smiled to myself amidst the pain. I thought to myself, how much my parents really knew about what happened with Tom. I had assumed there had been no witnesses and the only person who knew was my neighbor. Winry came in then, interrupting my evil plans of revenge involving a catapult and a barrel of grapes. She wrapped some gauze around my foot and smiled at me. "I'm sorry if I snapped at you before." I just waved her off.

"Win I get it, it was a little sketchy wasn't it?" She rolled her eyes at me, "No, you think?" she stuck her tongue out at me.

"What did you guys talk about? And don't think you can take off because that cut in your foot was worse than it looked. You're gonna have to stay off it for at least three days. So we have time to talk. I sighed and patted the space beside me. Winry and I made ourselves comfortable on my bed while I told her my story.

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><p>Ok readers, I'm sorry for some speling mistakes. But this entire story was typed up on my ipod and my autocorrect isn't really working. please tell me where the misakes are and I'll fix them. But I'd prefer to have no rude comments that I can't spell please and thanks you. Hugs and kisses! -Taylor<p> 


	2. Sarah, Central and the Color Purple

Sarah, Central, and the Color Purple

(Preview) I would like to get more comments and readers before I finish the whole chapter, so I'm only posting a little bit. I have it all on my computer so 10 more readers and at least 2 more reviews and I'll post it up for you all!)

Winry's POV

I sat at the kitchen table, poking at my dry cereal with my spoon. Al had gone into town that morning with granny to pick up more milk so the house seemed eerily quiet. Thanks to a slight struggle with Ed trying to get him to drink the milk (and perhaps grow from being a tiny little bean), he spilt the whole bottle all over the floor.

Sarah was still mopping up the mess and Ed was kind lingering by the sink, as if he was struggling between the notion to run, and helping her. I caught Ed's eye and gave him a death glare, he shrunk back and scooted a little closer to Sarah.

"I'm really sorry about the mess." He mumbled apologetically.

His blonde hair was out of it's usual braid and fell a bit over his shoulders and around his face. He ran his automail hand's fingers through his hair and sighed. Sarah straightened up, still holding the mop and wiping her forehead.

"I don't mind, the floor needed to be mopped anyways. SOMEBODY left grease stains all over the floor by cleaning their tools in the kitchen instead of the one in the workshop." She said it so sweetly but I could feel the slight bit of annoyance in her tone. I whistled innocently and went back to attacking my cereal.

Sarah clapped her hands suddenly and made Ed jump. "I'm going out to the garden, wanna join me?" She asked both Ed and I..

Shrugging Ed tied his hair back and went to look for his shoes. I wrinkled my nose. I still had to adjust some setting on Ed's arm, the new one was still a little jerky from not being used to the way Ed's abused it.

I wanted so bad to just get Ed to hold still long enough to let me check it out. "I have some adjustments to do." I said simply and popped a spoonful of crunchy cereal into my mouth.

I heard let out an exasperated sigh from the hall. Ed hated the adjustment's. The required me removing the automail and disconnecting the nerves that responded to the electrical signals running through his prosthetic limbs.

The pain was intense, I had seen the most hardened soldiers cry out from the pain but Ed always just squeezed his eyes shut, tensed up and held his breath. 'My brave Ed' I thought to myself.

Sarah pouted, "You're always working! Have some fun once in a while." She crossed her slightly tanned slender arms over her chest. Her curly hair was pulled up into a messy bun and she wore a white dress of mine. Turned out her suitcase had more medical books than actual clothes.

Sarah had gone down the same path as my parents. She was reading every medical textbook she could get her hands on and was a volunteer at the hospital in central.

She looked tired, her eyes had dark circles under them but her smile was still bright and full of energy. "Fine I guess Ed will just have to help me." She stuck her tongue out and slipped out of the room with her ever present grin.

I straightened up and started to collect my dishes. Ed had been sticking awfully close to Sarah's side lately and I had seen a smile occasionally touch his lips when he thought nobody was looking.

Maybe Sarah was good for him. I smiled to myself and cleared up the dishes from breakfast and padded upstairs to my room. When I opened my door I couldn't help laughing. Sarah had made my bed for me and left a little box on my bed, wrapped with a pale blue bow.

I smiled and sat on my freshly made bed, placing the pretty box on my lap. Sarah was so giving. Her gentle heart seemed to warm everyone around her.

I heard a laugh from outside my window. One I hadn't heard in a long time. Ed's laugh was deep and genuine. I walked over to the window and watched the two of them together.

I could tell Ed was watching Sarah as she gently pulled the weed from Granny's garden. He reached out as if he wanted to touch her but as she turned her shoved his hand into the pocket of his jeans and tried to look indifferent.

Sometimes I wondered, if Sarah was too giving.

Ed's POV

I watched Sarah as she sat on the backs of her heels and pulled weeds from granny's garden. I kind of just watched. My knowledge of plants was not extensive enough to know wether I was pulling out a weed or not.

Sarah straightened up and stretched her arms over her head yawning. "Last night was pretty busy." she rolled her shoulders and grabbed the bundle of weeds she's just pulled and tossed them in the rash can by the garden.

I raised my eyebrows, I remembered the night before the lights had been on at 3:30 and I could hear Sarah turning the pages of her books. When I peeked through the crack in her door she was scribbling in a small leather bound notebook and going back to the textbook on her lap that looked bigger than her.

"I want to be a doctor." She said answering the question in my head. "My aunt and uncle helped people during the war." Sarah played with a stray curl and smiled. "I love helping people.

That was obvious, everyone could see it. The other day one of Winry's regular customers came in coughing. Sarah immediately asked the man a series of questions and diagnosed his problem, referring him to a doctor in central who could give him an inhaler to help him breathe.

Sarah suddenly squealed and I jumped, my whole body tensed, ready. Sarah squealed again and ran over to a little patch of flowers across the garden. I relaxed and followed her, sighing.

"Next time you see something amazing can you not do that? My nerves are a little frayed as it is." I mumbled and crouched down beside her to see what all the fuss was about.

Sarah was staring at what looked like a regular rose, but it's velvet petals were a light shade of lavender. I'd never seen anything like that before.

"So you screamed like some zombie just rose from the dead and mooned you for a flower?" Sarah glared at me for a second and I bit my lip. 'Shutting up now," I thought silently.

Sarah touched the flowers delicate petals and smiled, "I haven't seen these since I was little. A local alchemist owned a flower shop and used to do things this. She could mix two flowers together and make a totally different species or make them any color she wanted."

I looked at the flower, I'd never considered alchemy could be used for things like that. It was technically bioalchemy and I guessed that the cross breeds of flowers could be considered chimaeras. But Sarah didn't see it that way.

"So I'm guessing you favorite color is purple?" I said slowly, hoping I wasn't wrong.

Sarah nodded. "Yepp, and Winry's is sky blue. Like a robin's egg." I felt for some odd reason jealous of the knowledge Sarah had of Winry. I'd known her since I was a kid and I still didn't know that.

I kicked the soft grass a little childishly, making Sarah look up at me and smile. She did that so much for someone that had gone through as much as she had. I had been through hell and I still found it hard to smile some times.

Winry stuck her head out of her bedroom window and yelled to me and Sarah. But her voice was swallowed up by a sudden gust of wind. So Sarah and I jogged closer to the house to hear her.

"What?" Sarah shouted as she cupped her hands around her mouth. Winry exhaled frustrated and repeated herself.

"You're mom and dad called, they want you home." Sarah's face drained of all color suddenly and she took a step back from the window. I could see her knees start to wobble.

Winry hoisted herself onto the window sill, then with one swift moment launched herself through the window and landed with surprising grace on her feet in front of Sarah and threw her arms around her. I just stared.

Sarah hung her head and for a second I worried she was crying, I had no idea what to do when a girl cried. I started to move away nonchalantly when Sarah threw her head back and laughed so hard I saw tears running down her cheeks.

Winry joined on and started laughing too and I couldn't help staring. "Did anyone else notice Winry just jumped 10 feet to the ground?" I shouted but she girls were still laughing.

I threw my hands in the air in defeat. "You two are insane. But I'm going with you to Central, I can't have you two psycho's traveling alone can I?"

Sarah smiled at me and grabbed my hand, squeezed it gently while still hugging Winry with one arm and mouthed the words, "Thank you." I nodded and went inside. By the time Pinako and Al got back we all had our suitcases packed and permission to have Winry's customers referred to Pinako for the time being.

As we walked down the path to where Winry parked her truck I looked back at the house. Pinako was waving goodbye from the step and I held up my hand in goodbye. I wondered when we'd be back in Resembool, since we'd be in Central we'd definitely be seeing the Hughes family and Kernel Mustang, Just the name gave me shivers up and down my spine.

Sarah hopped in the bed of Winry's truck and smiled at me when I sat down. We watched as the sun started to slowly sink down and I felt a sudden weight on my shoulder. Sarah was falling asleep.

I looked away feeling a warmth coming into my cheeks and felt her shiver, moving in closer to me. I sucked in a breath and tried to relax. I carefully, without waking her draped my jacket over her shoulders and watched her sleeping face break into a sleepy grin.

"Thanks Ed." She mumbled groggily and I felt her body go limp as she finally fell asleep. When we got to the train station I had to carry Sarah onto the train and to our seats, which got a few nudges from Al and knowing looks from Winry which I ignored.

When she was asleep she looked so peaceful, her face completely smoothed out. I yawned after a while and settled in for the long train ride. As I drifted off to sleep I heard Al and Winry whisper to each other about how close Sarah and I were sitting.

I smiled to myself and flipped them off before I slipped into my almost completely perfect sleep.


	3. Too Little Too Late To Love

To Little Too Late To Love

Sarah's POV

My sleep had been really peaceful, the quietest in a long time and I rolled over sleepily as I started to become more conscious. I felt myself pressed up against something hard and cold, I groggily pressed my fingers against in and felt the familiar metallic smoothness of an automail limb.

I cautiously sat up realizing that I had fallen asleep on Edward, his arms gently wrapped around me. I also noticed I was wearing his red jacket and I felt my face heat up a little. I took a shaky breath and moved Edward's arms from around me trying waking him.

His face was smoothed out in a peaceful oblivion of sleep. I smiled and without thinking went to brush his blonde hair out of his face. Immediately his eyes opened and he grabbed my wrist halfway through the motion.

I yelped in alarm, he hadn't hurt me but I was certainly surprised. I put my hand against his cheek and brushed hy fingers across his skin soothingly. Slowly his eyes slid closed again and I felt his grip slacken on my wrist. His hand then fell limply into his lap as he drifted off the sleep again.

I pushed up the long sleeves of the jacket and pulled it closer to my body, te train was cold. "He usually doesn't sleep that well." I heard Winry say. Her eyes looked strained. Had she stayed up this late?

"Good lord Win, go to sleep. I can stay up for a bit if you want, I'm awake anyways." Winry shifted uncomfortable in her seat.

"I just was watching you guys." She trailed off and I laughed, "Because that's not creepy at all Win." I teased as I stretched out.

Suddenly I heard Ed stir, mumbling something in his sleep, I could have swore he was cursing a certain dairy product but then his eyes opened slowly and he looked around the train car.

"What time is it Winry?" Ed said as he started to wake up. He looked at me and all of a sudden and his cheeks were red, remembering giving me his jacket.

Winry scoffed, "Ed you're the only one here with a watch." Ed looked down at the silver chain hanging out of his pocket and pulled it out.

I scooted closer, my curiosity growing. "It's his state certification." Winry said softly. I looked up at Ed as he popped the watch open.

I saw something etched into the inside cover of the watch but something inside me told me it wasn't something I could ask him about right then. I sometimes forgot Ed was an alchemist.

And more often that I forgot he was a state alchemist. He was a "dog of the military" as some people liked to call them. But he was different than the other alchemists I had met. He was definitely the youngest. And something about him made me think he was doing it for his own reasons, not just the money like other desperate alchemists.

"3 am." Edward announced with a yawn. Winry and I groaned and I let my head fall forward to hit the cold window pane, how could it be 3 am? It felt like I had only been asleep for five minutes.

Ed stood up and went to the door of our compartment and opened it, peering out into the dark hall. "There's nobody up and about, so I'm going to take a walk. Lock the door."

I laughed, "Edward, there's not going to be any reason for you to leave us long enough for us to get hurt is there?" I stuck my tongue out and he rolled his eyes at me.

"I have to go to the bathroom if you must know, but lock the door or I'll chain it closed from the outside." He slammed the door closed without another word leaving Winry and I in partial darkness.

Winry giggled, "Well that was dramatic." We both tried to stifle our laughs as Ed walked away.

I smiled at Winry in the dim light and stretched out myself on the now empty seat. "I love these train rides. I get to leave the world behind me instead of the other way around." She was staring out the window with a far away look on her face as she spoke.

I stood up and crossed over to Winry and put my arm around her. I gave her a gentle hug and she just sat still, unmoving, maybe not even noticing I was there.

"This world is moving so fast lately." I said, patting her head absent mindedly. "No matter what, holding onto what we love the most is becoming harder and harder to do these days. But no matter Win, those boys will always come home to you. Every single time."

Winry heaved a sigh and finally put her arms around me for a hug. "Thanks." she whispered. After about 20 minutes both of us were drifting off to sleep when someone banged on the door.

"Must be Ed" I thought as I padded to the door. I slid the door open, rubbing my eyes.

"Next time you go to the bathroom don't take six and a half hours please." I mumbled. When Ed didn't respond stopped rubbing my eyes and looked up.

My entire body froze and I baked away from the door. A scream was at my lips but no sound would come out and I crumbled to the ground.

"Hey Sarah, I've been looking for you." Tom said with a cold smile. He took a step towards me and I screamed in terror.

Ed's POV

I strolled down the hall, partially lit at this point, wandering around the train. I had found a dining car and a lounge that smelled heavily of smoke, probably for playing cards.

My mind was wandering as I continued my exploration of the train when I bumped into someone.

"I am so sorry!" He said quickly, he brushed his black hair out of his eyes and straightened himself up. I waved off the apology.

I watched him go and suddenly I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach I couldn't place. I passed off as late night food cravings and turned to head back to our compartment.

Suddenly a scream pierced through to early morning silence and I took off running towards it, heart beating wildly.

When I reached our compartment the door was open and the room was dim and I could vaguely see three figures. Two were huddled together in a corner and the other was talking, definitely a man's voice.

I felt my blood boil and I took a step closer when I heard something that made me freeze. "I missed you Sarah, you know I didn't mean to hurt you." The words sounded empty and scripted.

I realized right away who it was and grabbed the figure by the back of his shirt and threw him to the ground, transmuting my automail arm into a wicked blade and held it to his throat.

"Hello Tom" I said with gritted teeth, pressing the blade closer to his skin.

Tom didn't even flinch. He just looked up at me with a smile that made my stomach churn. His voice became soothing and eerie. "You must be the Fullmetal Alchemist all of central's been talking about. The young and amazing Elric."

His eyes were a piercing blue, they reminded me of ice and I had to hold back the urge to slit his throat. "Sarah, Winry, are you ok?" I said without taking my eyes off of Tom.

Winry spoke "I'm fine but he grabbed Sarah." My stomach twisted into a knot and I transmuted my automail back into it's regular form. Tom must have assumed he was home free until I punched him in the face.

The contact made a sickening CRUNCH sound, hopefully I broke his nose. I could feel my whole body shaking with rage.

I yanked Tom up by the collar and held him above the ground and met his cold dead eyes. "Tom, you have 10 seconds to leave before I cut each of your fingers and toes off, one at a time."

He scoffed and me and I slammed him into the compartment wall. His head hitting the wall and then falling forward. "I mean it." I growled.

He looked up at me, blood pouring from his nose and dripping over his lips as he smiled. "I know Sarah loves me still. We were engaged, she can't just walk away from something like that."

He spat a mouth full of blood onto the floor and laughed. "You want a piece of that? I bet you already didn't you? She's just an animal in the sack." I punched him in the gut with a sickening thud as my fist made contact with what I prayed was a rib.

He doubled over onto the floor, spitting blood and gasping for air. I grabbed a fistful of his hair, my body shaking with rage. "Get out!" I screamed and threw him out of the compartment door, locking it behind me.

I heard sobs coming from behind me and I turned slowly. Sarah was curled up in a ball on the floor, shaking uncontrollably as Winry held her head in her lap.

"Bastard." I muttered. I bent down to Winry's level and whispered into ear that I'd be back. She looked up at me, her lips pressed into a tight line as she nodded.

I unlocked the door and saw Tom had started crawling away, leaving a trail of blood down the hall. I was tempted to kick that pretty boy face of his in, maybe rearrange it a bit, I was practically blind with rage as I walked up beside him.

I stomped on his outstretched hand as he tried to crawl away and he let out a screech. I noticed we had some witnesses and I saw two men wearing the familiar blue military coat.

I pulled my watch out of my pocket, still crushing his hand with my boot, "I am Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. I need you to arrest this young man for two counts of assault against Sarah Rockbell."

The officers and I exchanged salutes and took Tom away, wrenching his arm behind his back and dragging him somewhere, where to I didn't care. I had to get to Winry and Sarah, I had never seen Winry's face like that before and Sarah was probably losing her mind.

When I got back to the compartment Sarah was curled up in a ball on one of the plush seats, her arms wrapped around her delicate frame. She was shaking and tears streaked her cheeks as she cried silently.

Winry stood up and put her hand on my shoulder, "Ed I'm going to go call Sarah's parents. They're stopping the train so Tom can be taken off and, "she paused, as if considering her next words carefully. "Dealt with. An officer came by and told us. I promise I'll be really quick."

I nodded and sat with Sarah. The silence that filled the compartment was suffocating. The only sound in the room was Sarah's shaky breathing and the pounding of my heart.

I reached out to stroke her hair and the second I touched her she burst into tears and sat up, wrapping her arms around my neck. Soaking my shirt with her tears.

I sucked in a breath, not sure what to do at first then slowly put my arms around her. She sobbed for a good while and I whispered things I hoped would calm her. I wasn't really the comforting type but I hadn't really had a girl crying on my shoulder before so I was a little stuck.

Sarah sniffled and wiped at her eyes after a while, curling her knees up to be practically in my lap, but I didn't say anything. "Edward, thank you for staying with me." she said, barely even a whisper.

She leaned forward and rested her forehead against mine, closing her dark brown eyes, her breaths still shaky from crying. I sighed and brushed away a tear that rolled down her pink cheeks.

We stayed like that for a while until Sarah nodded off to sleep. I gently positioned her more comfortably on the seat, draping my jacket over her again. I heard her mumble something in her sleep and I could have sworn it was my name.

My face burned pink and I jumped when Winry slid the door open. She raised her eyebrows at me and my proximity to Sarah the rolled her eyes. "Alchemy freak." She muttered and curled up on the opposite seat from me, her back turned towards Sarah and I.

My mind raced as the events of the day went through my mind, my head started ti pound and I rubbed my temples. I stretched and yawned sleepily. As I leaned back to make myself more comfortable, I looked around quickly to see if Winry was still awake, which luckily she wasn't.

I leaned over to Sarah and gently pecked her on the cheek.. I hadn't the foggiest idea what possessed me to do that but the feeling of a thousand butterflies in my stomach told me maybe I did a good thing. Since after all, I'd never kissed a girl before.

**Ok hello everyone! I'm sorry my last chapter was so short, I was leading up to this one. I really hope you all like it! R&R please! Love you all!**


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